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Samaras Wants Allies Ready For Troika

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (C) with Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis (L) and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (C) with Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis (L) and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who is leader of the New Democracy Conservative party, will brief his coalition partners, PASOK Socialist chief Evangelos Venizelos, and Democratic Left (DIMAR) head Fotis Kouvelis, on the government’s strategy to deal with international lenders who are returning to Athens.
Samaras wants a coordinated front for the meeting with the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) who are demanding a speedier pace of reforms, including the firing of 25,000 workers this year and another 125,000 over the next two years.
The news agency ANSA said the three will meet on April 3 to go over the plan that is set by Samaras and his ministers as PASOK and the Democratic Left have no real standing other than pledging their party’s votes in Parliament to the Premier.
Venizelos and Kouvelis have occasionally raised objections to some of the more stringent austerity measures but always relented in the end. The IMF’s Poul Thomsen, the EU’s Servaz Deruz and the ECB’s Claus Masuch are due back on April 4.
According to press reports, the prime minister would like to resolve all remaining issues before the officials arrive. The focus will be the public sector layoffs and an extension to the payment of real estate taxes through electricity bills, which the representatives of Greece’s international creditors consider essential conditions for the go-ahead to the two tranches of 2.8 billion euros ($3.59 billion) and 6 billion euros ($7.69 billion) that are critical to keep paying workers, pensioners and bills.

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